God-given duty
by sweetysm
Summary: Hermione has been crushing on Harry but doesn't want to confess. Sirius finds out through keen observation and decides it is his God-given duty as Harry's godfather to establish his happiness. In this case, it means taking matters in his own hands...
**I do not own any of these characters. The story, however, is mine.**

 **God-given duty**

It was the Christmas holidays, fifth year. Mr Weasley has just returned from the hospital and the Weasley family (minus the three older 'children'), along with Hermione, Harry, Sirius and Remus filled the rooms of the old Black residence.

Molly overdid it as usually, having made so much food to last them the next couple of days. But everyone was smiling, happy and eager to open their presents after having filled their stomachs. They moved to the sitting room, where Remus and Sirius had deposited the big Christmas tree. It was surrounded with packages in various sizes for those present. The Weasleys weren't known for their shyness, and Fred and George proved that by being the first to grab the colourful boxes. However, they were known for their generosity and so everyone got their presents hand-delivered by the twins.

The rustling of paper followed from every corner of the room and delighted faces exclaimed their happiness with what they have gotten. Hermione was sitting on a sofa near the windows that faced the front street. She had seven packages lying around her, most of them obviously hiding books. The nearest one had a card attached which stated: "Go get him, girl! Love, Ginny". Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, already having an idea what Ginny had gotten her.

Removing the paper her suspicions were confirmed. The book had a bright pink cover which hurt the eyes and written on that, in black, curvy ink, was: "How to get your wizard to never forget you. Tips and tricks to make him yours forever". Hermione blushed lightly and quickly hid the book under her other packages, which she had yet to open. She quickly looked around if anyone had seen the book and her eyes met Ginny's, which smirked and winked at her. Hermione mock glared at her but she couldn't hold back her own smile, even if it was a bit wry.

She knew Ginny meant well; after all, they had become good friends over the summer spending so much time together, being the only girls surrounded by pubescent boys. And while Hermione's love obviously centred on her books, Ginny did her best to get Hermione to have serious 'girl talks', including talking about crushes, makeup and Witch Weekly. By the beginning of the new schoolyear they had become pretty close. Still, Hermione had kept her biggest secret guarded from Ginny's noisy questions: which boy she liked.

That was quite hard, knowing Ginny and her determination with getting what she wanted. And knowing who Hermione fancied was one of her top priorities that summer. She failed, however, because Hermione herself knew it was a lost cause since the very beginning she felt those twinges near that person.

She looked around and her sight settled on him. Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Her best friend.

 _It happened last year, shortly before his fight with a dragon. They have been reviewing and practicing spells and strategies together, spending almost their entire days by each other's side. That the entire school didn't believe Harry about not putting his name in the goblet didn't matter to Hermione, it just made her angry and even more determined to stay by Harry's side. He was her best friend, she believed him and anyway, with the way he reacted that evening it should have been clear that he hadn't put his name in. Hermione was especially angry at Ron. His jealousy clouded his judgement, like many of the others as well, but he had been their best friend and should have believed Harry instead of calling him a liar and going against him._

 _So Hermione, seeing how Harry suffered, spent all her time and effort to help him into making it out alive. Sometimes she even tried to make jokes to cheer him up when he seemed particularly unfocused or tired, and her inability to say anything funny made Harry always smile and relax. For Hermione that was always a success and she enjoyed seeing him happy even if it was only for a short time. Since then the twinges began._

 _She thought it strange in the beginning, classifying it as being happy when her best friend was happy. A totally normal thing. But as the first task came nearer, Hermione witnessed Harry becoming more and more anxious and trying to shut himself away even from her. That caused twinges inside her as well, and since it couldn't be explained by her assumption of sharing happiness, she wrote it off as worry._

 _Only on the day of the first task did Hermione understand what the twinges meant and realize the extent of her feelings for her best friend. Her insides were completely knotted and she was stiff and anxious. She had only Harry in mind and what would happen if he didn't make it out alive. That's when she realized that that simply wasn't an option at all. Harry couldn't die or she…she…she- couldn't live without him. She just couldn't. Wasn't able. Hermione would rather… Her eyes widened. Harry was more than a friend, more than a best friend. He was her everything!_

 _Coming back to her senses after that realisation she thought about what to do now. Harry still had to battle a dragon – a fricking dragon! – and she… had to see him. While running to the champions tent Hermione decided on just checking on Harry and wishing him good luck. She wouldn't tell him her feelings, as they would only distract him, and who knows, maybe even repulse him. After all, besides it not being the time for confessions, Hermione knew who she was: Harry's bookish, know-it-all, best female friend. And who knows if he even saw her as a girl, Ron certainly didn't seem to notice that detail about her. But it didn't matter. Harry just had to know she was there for him, even if only as a friend._

From then on Hermione kept her feelings a big secret. First so she could come to terms with them herself and at the same time not to distract Harry. That's also why she said yes to Viktor, instead of holding herself open in case Harry wanted to ask her to the ball. And although she still held hope at that time, by now there was almost none left. He didn't show any kind of affection to her that went beyond being friends, nothing that even hinted as much. The Yule ball came and past and since Ron got his old place as Harry's best friend back Hermione was back to being the talking encyclopaedia. Also, Hermione wasn't blind. She could see Harry showing interest in Ginny. The same kind he showed Cho the year before.

It was a lost cause, and Hermione was near giving up. She just couldn't ignore her feelings, as they didn't seem to diminish nor recede. Instead with every smile, every laugh, every experience they shared these feelings grew. And Hermione became more and more depressed and concerned about finding her own happiness with these feelings that just wouldn't go away.

It was obvious why she couldn't find comfort in any of her friends, not that she had many. Ginny would be shell shocked if she found out, she herself having shared her big crush on Harry multiple times with Hermione. Harry was obviously out of the question and Ron… well, there is no need for an explanation here. She didn't want to talk with her mother, because that would be embarrassing, and the list of friends ends here.

It was clear that Hermione was alone in this.

Coming back to the real world Hermione went back to opening her presents: a jumper from Mrs Weasley, a fake book which exploded when opened from the twins, a cheap perfume from Ron and the rest were book varying from 'popular potions' to 'how to become an animagus' to an old copy of 'Hogwarts: a history'. Hermione smiled and stocked them on each other, the bottom one being Ginny's present.

She looked around and saw that everyone had finished opening their presents and was thanking those near them. Fred and George were already up to something again and Harry and Ron were playing chess with the new board Ron just got. Ginny sat down next to her to talk about what she has received while the adults helped themselves to a glass of wine.

Hermione was trying to be polite and listen to Ginny, but her eyes drifted repeatedly to Harry, who was sitting in her line of sight. Thankfully Ginny didn't notice, but someone else watched the scene in front of him with amusement in his eyes.

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The afternoon passed quickly and at dinner the festive spirits were still going. They laughed and joked while eating as much of the delicious food as they could. Afterwards it was Hermione's and Sirius' turn to take care of the dishes, while the others re-entered the sitting room. Hermione was washing and Sirius was drying while having a friendly conversation. Until Sirius decided to sate his curiosity:

"Say Hermione, something has caught my attention lately, you know? And I would like to confirm certain suspicions I have… or really deductions I would call them. And I think you could help me with that…", Sirius ended with a grin.

"Is that so?..." Hermione glanced in his direction a bit suspicious but also curious about what he wanted.

"Why yes! You seem to be the perfect person to confirm my thoughts." Hermione reasoned Sirius probably asked her because of her knowledge and her reputation of being a bookworm, but he could have asked professor Lupin just as well… hmm, then probably it was something about Harry? Would make sense, since she was one of his friends and saw him more often than Sirius did.

"Is it something about Harry? He's as good as can be expected, given the recent happenings, but I would advise you to talk to him yourself. You know Harry looks up to you like a father and would come to you if he had problems." Hermione said while continuing washing the dishes.

"That is not what I wanted to talk about, but I will take it to heart", Sirius smiled. "However, it does have to do with the pup, I guess. In connection with you Hermione…", Sirius said while lightly grinning and raising his eyebrows simultaneously, looking excitingly at her.

Hermione stiffened but didn't raise her eyes from what she was doing. A thousand thoughts were swirling around in her head and she was close to panicking, thinking how he could possibly have figured it out and if someone else had, but answered calmly, if not a bit curt:

"What about me and Harry?"

Sirius watched her closely and moved a bit nearer to her, hovering at Hermione's left side. He leaned in and whispered in her ear all the while grinning: "You fancy the pup, right? I've seen the look in your eyes when you're watching him, and that is not how best friends look at each other…".

Hermione went still. She stopped moving and closed her eyes. It was out. Her heavily guard secret was now out, and of all that could have found out it was Sirius, Harry's godfather and known womanizer and pranker. She was so doomed…

Panic started to overwhelm her and she felt her eyes moisten. She always knew it was a possibility that someone figured it out, but she had also hoped that she would have been over Harry at that point and could have just laughed it off. This was bad. Hermione didn't know what to do. She breathed in and out, trying to ignore Sirius while thinking of her possibilities now. She could try to deny it, but Sirius wouldn't let it go and could tell Harry as a way of embarrassing her, trying to find out the truth of her statement, and that wasn't really an option at all. Or she could confirm it…and go down. Sirius still wouldn't let it go, and Hermione had no idea of what he would do about the issue.

Just perfect!

Her only hope was that Sirius would get the importance of the matter to her and be sympathetic. After all, she saved him from death once, he owned her! And he wasn't a mean person anyway…

Taking a deep breath, Hermione opened her eyes and looked at Sirius with a serious face.

"No Sirius, I don't fancy Harry. I love him". Hermione's voice cracked at the word 'love', but got a hold of herself and began anew:

"He's more than my best friend. I would do everything for him and his happiness, even if it meant removing myself from his life. I love Harry with all my heart and will protect him with the best of my abilities. I will stand by his side until the very end and nobody, not even Voldemort himself, can stop me. I won't be a burden to him, I refuse to be, and that means that this conversation remains between us Sirius, do you understand? No hints, no jokes, no whatsoever to Harry or anyone else. I know these feelings are one-sided, and I won't put him in an uncomfortable position, nor will I risk the closeness we have now. Don't you dare destroy that just for a laugh! I won't forgive you if you did", Hermione finished with a glare, her eyes teary.

Sirius looked shocked. That certainly wasn't the answer he was expecting. He knew Hermione had a crush on Harry and cared about him deeply, but he didn't realize how deep. Now there were no more questions. That little spitfire truly loved his godson, and hell would freeze over before Sirius would let Hermione hide those feelings of hers. Harry deserved all the love in the world, and Hermione would give him enough to make him happy for a lifetime. Now if only he could reassure her and get her to tell Harry the exact same thing she has told him, he could die in peace, knowing Harry was taken care of.

Hermione looked at him, waiting for an answer all the while calming herself. She hadn't meant to confess, not like that anyway. Embarrassed she turned away and began cleaning again. She wanted to get out of here and forget all about what just happened.

Sirius on the other hand had other plans.

"Hermione… I am happy to hear that", he smiled. "But you have to tell Harry. Give him a chance. You can't decide by yourself that he doesn't have the same feelings for you! You know how boys are, you have to spell everything out to them. Just tell him what you told me. I'm sure it would make him very happy to know someone cares so much about him. And believe me when I say that Harry couldn't be in better hands than yours, Hermione. I trust you to make him happy, and to stay by his side when things get rough. Don't give up before you even tried", Sirius finished.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes and let his words sink in. Sirius believed in her. He didn't make fun of her but encouraged her because he believed she could give his godson the happiness he deserved. Sirius wouldn't risk to lie and have a fallout between the two be the consequence. No, he truly thought she could make him happy.

Hermione felt hope bloom in her chest and felt a great urge to hug Sirius. Finally, someone with whom she could talk about this and who believed what she was too afraid to.

"And since it is technically, and practically, about my godson, I see it as my God-given duty to secure his happiness. So you better say it to him yourself, or I, as the responsible godfather that I am, just have to step in and secure his happiness by telling him about this matter myself. You have until tonight at midnight." And with that Sirius was out of the kitchen, bearing a big grin on his face while leaving a shocked Hermione behind.

"Just what the hell happened?", Hermione said aloud.

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Hermione was back in her room and fretting the time away. For hours now has she been sitting on her bed and was worrying herself sick. She had no idea what to do! Should she tell Harry? If yes, then how? When and where and HOW?

She couldn't do it. Harry would hate her and Harry would hate her and Harry would hate her and- Harry wouldn't hate her because he was such a wonderful person that he would let her down gently and 'aaaaaaaaahhhh! I'm going crazy', Hermione thought. She now had a lot of respect for those who confessed to their crushes. 'I'm being a coward. If I don't tell him, Sirius will, and then Harry will be even more confused why I didn't tell him myself and seek me out for answers and it will all be out anyway…huff! I hate being in love', thought Hermione.

'This can't go on. I will tell him. Then I can also secure him that he doesn't have to feel guilty and that nothing will change between us. Everything will stay the same. I will still help him out and I can fully understand him not requiring my feelings. Say I just wanted them off my chest and wish him luck with Ginny…', Hermione cringed. 'Maybe leave that last part'.

Hermione stood up and left her room. She went to Harry and Ron's room and listened. It seemed too silent and when opening it she saw it was empty. 'Hmm…Ron gets restless doing nothing so they are probably doing something in the sitting room.' However, Hermione didn't find Harry there and so she continued to look for him. She found him in the back yard, leaning on a big tree while facing away from the house. She almost wouldn't have seen him if she hadn't noticed his shoe near the base of the tree.

Hermione pulled herself together and walked to him, sitting down next to him when he noticed her.

"Hey", Hermione smiled, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Hey", Harry smiled while looking strangely at her. "Needed something?", he asked friendly.

Hermione shook her head. "No. Just wanted to spend some time with you", Hermione answered and blushed lightly while looking at the sky.

Harry smiled before turning to resume looking at the sky again. Nobody said anything for about ten minutes, but Hermione's head was full of motivational calls: 'Come on, girl! Go get him, tiger! Tell him now! Shout it out! Kiss him, no explanation needed! Attack! GO GO GO!'

Hermione was blushing red by the tenth minute and finally decided to just blurb it out. She turned to her right and stared Harry right in the face.

"Harry? I- I - … have to tell you something…" Hermione looked down on her hands. She was too embarrassed.

"I- I-…I-I-… I- … I-", Hermione tried again and again, only to be interrupted by Harry:

"Love me?" Hermione looked up to him, shocked. 'How?', she thought. Harry just looked at her and Hermione couldn't help but nod in affirmation.

Harry smiled, seemingly reassured. He lifted his right hand and pushed a few strands of Hermione's curly hair behind her ear before putting it on her cheek and caressing it.

"Sirius came to me a few hours ago. He told me about a very interesting conversation between you two after dinner…", Harry told her all the while caressing her cheek.

"I was a bit shocked when he told me, not really expecting it from him to tell me about your feelings. He… laughed out loud when he saw me blush in response after I was sure he wasn't trying to prank me. And I had to laugh as well. For the brightest witch of her age you sure are blind sometimes Hermione. I have been crushing on you since fourth year… since you threw me into a bookshelf while practicing the expelliarmus", Harry laughed before smiling again.

"I thought you wouldn't be interested, you know, me being so much trouble and with Viktor Krum also showing an interest in you. I just thought there was no chance for me. Imagine my surprise when Sirius told me you returned my feelings."

Hermione was overwhelmed. Harry knew of her feelings and wasn't disturbed by them. The contrary, he was delighted, he even returned them! Hermione just couldn't believe her luck. She began to smile and laugh and cry and threw her arms around his shoulders, pressing her face into his neck. Harry hugged her back, trying to comfort her.

"I love you Hermione. Don't cry", Harry said.

"I love you too Harry. *hic* *laugh* I love you Harry!", Hermione answered, trying to become one with Harry's sweater.

She couldn't be happier. Harry loved her. Harry loved her! She hugged him tighter. It was like a dream. One she never wanted to wake up from.

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Sirius watched from his open window down into the garden while listening in on Harry and Hermione's conversation with the extendable ears he confiscated from the twins. He was smirking, proud of himself. He has accomplished this God-given duty as a godfather excellently, if he could say so himself.

 **This is my first story so review please and tell me what you think! :)**


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